"No, I was not. But--"

"Then enter the South in the same spirit. Nothing may come of it. Ifyou receive an order to depart, then you can make your decision."

"I see no flaw in your logic. Give me the coordinates."

Thus did Frost enter the southern hemisphere.

They drifted high above the Andes, until they came to the place calledBright Defile. THen did Frost see the gleaming webs of the mechanicalspiders, blocking all the trails to the city.

"We can go above them easily enough," said Mordel.

"But what are they?" asked Frost. "And why are they there?"

"Your southern counterpart has been ordered to quarantine this part ofthe country. The Beta-Machine designed the web-weavers to do this thing."

"Quarantine? Against whom?"

"Have you been ordered yet to depart?" asked Mordel.

"No."

"Then enter boldly, and seek not problems before they arise."

Frost entered Bright Defile, the last remaining city of dead Man.

He came to rest in the city's square and opened his chamber, releasingMordel.

"Tell me of this place," he said, studying the monument, the low,shielded buildings, the roads which followed the contours of the terrain,rather than pushing their way through them.

"I have never been here before," said Mordel, "nor have any of Divcom'screations, to my knowledge. I know but this: a group of Men, knowingthat the last days of civilization had come upon them, retreated to thisplace, hoping to preserve themselves and what remained of their culturethrought the Dark Times."

Frost read the still-legible inscription upon the monument: "JudgmentDay Is Not a Thing Which Can Be Put Off." The monument itself consistedof a jag-edged half-globe.

"Let us explore," he said.

But before he had gone far, Frost received the message.

"Hail Frost, Controller of the North! This is the Beta-Machine."